* Welcome to the afternoon edition of Network World Daily News.
In depth
BREAKING NEWS
Opinion: The ‘hate’ and ‘love’ Apple stories
By now, you may have heard something about a couple of articles we’ve been planning about Apple and its products. We sure have.
Trojan impersonates Windows activation to snatch data
Symantec researchers Friday warned of an in-the-wild Trojan horse that poses as a Windows activation program to dupe users into entering credit card information in an attempt to reanimate their machines.
Microsoft promises DNS patch Tuesday
Microsoft’s security center has confirmed that a patch for the already-exploited DNS server bug in Windows will be among the seven updates scheduled to release next Tuesday.
IN DEPTH
Charting new IT organizationsWhat you have to say about IT reorganization.
What will the IT organization of the future look like? We gathered experts for a virtual roundtable discussion about how CIOs are reorganizing their IT operations to improve customer service and gain a competitive advantage from such emerging technologies as wireless networks, unified communications and service-oriented architectures. Plus:
Carriers skimping on biz services?
The largest carriers in the United States are collectively investing billions in enterprise network and service upgrades, but they are committing far more dollars to consumer and wireless services. One look at revenue potential and it becomes clear why — the carriers stand to gain billions in new business as initiatives such as IPTV take hold.
New world order: Network industry financials show shakeup at the top
Netwrork World’s annual analysis of financial results from network companies in 2006 focused on 12 industry bellwethers. HP knocked off IBM for the top spot in terms of sales, Dell lost its PC crown to HP, and AT&T was poised to regain the top telecom perch.
Performance key for disk-based backup
Disk-based backup systems that support compression and data deduplication can be an attractive alternative to tape-based backup, but the architecture and design will greatly affect how these systems perform and scale.
FROM THE BLOGS AND FORUMS
Our latest blogger: Jeff Doyle, author of “Routing TCP/IP,” volumes 1 and II, is now writing on networking, with a focus on (but not limited to) Cisco gear. Check his blog out and say hello.
John Obeto writes that “Microsoft security products” is no longer an oxymoron. Mark Gibbs remembers the fun old days of working for Novell in the 1980s. Brad Reese considers Cisco as winner of channel product of the year award. Michael Cooney considers an experimental robot that could one day do some “Fantastic Voyage” heart repair. Paul McNamara gets tired of those giant splashscreen ads that you have to click through to get to some sites now. Jason Meserve plays Programmer or Serial Killer. James Gaskin cannot fathom why HP doesn’t include drivers for all of its own printers on its PCs.
User bpwsource asks for help with a wireless card that seems unable to connect to a network. One user wonders why Nortel is only now coming up with an MPLS alternative. Another user writes that in any battle between Microsoft/Yahoo and Google, he’ll bet on Google. Users discuss the homeless man with the cigarette who disrupted Internet2 traffic between Boston and New York last week and examine Linux alternatives to Outlook.
REVIEW
Microsoft rolls out client-based spyware tool
In our Clear Choice Test of the newly minted Microsoft Forefront Client Security (FCS) code, we found it is indeed an easy-to-administer desktop-based antimalware tool with helpful reports and painless deployment. The FCS Security Agent software stymied spyware and other loopy miscreants at an industry average rate in our tests.
HOW TO
Ron Nutter helps a user improve wireless security. Andrew Lockhart explains how to secure a RADIUS server on a wireless network. Erik de la Iglesia looks at port issues for protecting against data leakage.
ITVIDEO
Your cell phone as a credit card
Kyocera’s Near Field Communications technology transforms standard cellphones in to a credit card for buying everything from vending machine items to movie tickets with the wave of the phone. Keith Shaw gets a demo of this technology that could be coming to a phone near you soon.
MORE NEWS
Management heavies get poor grades in Gartner survey
Management software heavyweights BMC, CA, HP and IBM are barely making the grade with their customers, earning C and D averages and driving IT buyers to look elsewhere for their operations management needs, according to a recent Gartner poll.
Data integration key to healthcare goals
Dr. Julian Goldman of Massachusetts General Hospital plugged a USB drive into a computer so he could give a slideshow presentation at the British Consulate-General in Boston Wednesday morning, and remarked that this simple act exceeds many of the technological capabilities of today’s health care system.
Microsoft, IBM identity plan criticized
A protocol developed by IBM and Microsoft for standardizing the sharing of user identities between companies was turned over to a standards body on Wednesday amid controversy that it overlaps with similar protocols already recognized as standards.
Switch from start-up targets congestion
Start-up Teak Technologies debuted a 10G Ethernet switch for blade servers this week. The hook is a new traffic-management and congestion-detection technology built into the hardware, which, the company says, eliminates latency and makes standard 10G connections look slow.
